Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (18 December 1912-4 July 2002) was a General of the US Air Force, the first African-American to hold that rank in the Air Force (his father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was the first African-American general in the United States military). Davis is most famous for his command of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, and he also fought in the Korean War.

Biography
Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was born on 18 December 1912 in Washington DC, United States, the son of General Benjamin O. Davis Sr.. Davis was inspired to become a pilot after watching a barnstormer pilot taking part in a flying circus, and he entered West Point in 1932, with America's only black congressman, Oscar Stanton De Priest, sponsoring him. He was rarely spoken to by his classmates, and he ate alone. He graduated in 1936, the academy's fourth black graduate since 1889. He taught military tactics at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, being sent there by the US Army to prevent him from commanding white soldiers; he had previously been rejected from the Army Air Corps and the base officers' club of the US 24th Infantry Regiment.

Davis' big break came in 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the need for an all-black unit at the request of the American public, and he completed a flight training course in March 1942 with the rank of Captain. In July, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and the white and Puerto Rican-commanded black "Tuskegee Airmen" first saw action when they bombed the Italian island of Pantelleria in July 1943 to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy. In January 1944, the squadron shot down 12 German planes in two days while defending the Anzio beachhead, and the Tuskegee Airmen had flown 15,000 sorties, shot down 111 enemy planes, and destroyed or damaged 273 Luftwaffe planes on the ground while losing 66 planes (including 25 bombers). In July 1948, President Harry Truman integrated the US military, having been inspired by the efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen under Colonel Davis.

Davis briefly served in the Korean War as commander of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, flying an F-86 Sabre over Korea. He served overseas at Ramstein and Wiesbaden in Germany, and he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, US Air Forces in Europe. He retired in 1970, and President Bill Clinton promoted him to General in 1998. Davis died in 2002 in Washington DC.